Space Oddity: Episode III Relive
by Observer123
Summary: The sequel to Space Oddity Episode II. It's about Dudley telling stories about his life among the humans.
1. First steps

**-Hey guys! I know it´s been a while since I published something but here I am with Space Oddity III. This story will be about Dudley and my OCs. So we probably won´t jump back to Petropolis this time. Anyway, enjoy :D -**

It is indescribable. Like every single time and you would never get used to it. The first time when you put on the tight but comfortable suit, the helmet that is lighter than it looks, the gravity amplifying boots with integrated rockets for longer jumps. The first steps inside the ship with your gear which made you look like more muscular version of yourself. The calm breaths with which you want to persuade your body to calm down.

The sudden panic as the airlock slowly lowers the pressure and you hope that all parts of your suit are air-sealed. Your last gaze to the man next to you, your buddy the astronaut that accompanies you on your spacewalk. He can´t see the fear in your face through the black visor of your helmet, like you can´t see his.

And then the moment the gates open and you dive into the middle of the stars getting surrounded by this all-embracing greatness and this grave stillness which is almost tangible. You start walking and even if you walked since you are one year old it feels like you make your first steps.

Clumsily you stumble over the ground although your boots provide you with a small and almost one G strong gravity field. And then it happens, you fall.  
Desperately you grab everything that can give you support and hinder you from colliding with the ground, that can help you to stay standing. But you will fall, it´s just a matter of time.

It´s inevitable, it´s just part of the process. And when you finally lie on the ground you realize, like on earth, that is just a simple fall. A fall like you´ve been through a thousand times. Nothing that kills you, at least nothing that does that definitely. Of course accidents happen but that the exception, not the rule.

And in the moment you stand up after it, a marvelous feeling of relief grabs you and throws you into a pool of euphoria. Even if everyone says that the moments before the fall were terrible they also all agree that the euphoria after that was more than worth it. If they could, they all would want to relieve this feeling.

Dudley´s first steeps were quite a while ago. A long while to be honest. He made so many trips outside in his suit that, by now, he could move in it like in every other garment. But the many practice had took their toll. Due to them the space had lost a big part of its magic to him. Not all of it, of course.

Although enough to chat with his buddy instead of gazing at the stars in awe.  
"No! No freaking tips, Isaac." Said the man with the broad shoulders, who walked next to Dudley, through the microphone of his helmet in the usual angry tone he owned.

"Come on!" I giggled amusedly from the bridge of a ship far away from those two. "You know how bad he is in that. He has other qualities."  
"Okay, first that sounds really weird." Dudley stated with a stern voice and an undertone that implied that he wasn´t as unamused as he sounded. "And second… is the answer energy-field-manipulator?"

"Try it again." The man meant and patted the dog on the shoulder part of his orange space suit.  
"You are close, Dudley." I meant through the radio and spun on the chair in my lab.  
"Dammit Isaac!" The man cursed. "No freaking tips!"  
"Seriously, René, that is just a tiny piece of advice."

"Oh yeah? Then you can teach him, great Advisor." René growled irritatedly.  
"Uhm… no, go on, I will shut up." I meant remembering the last exhausting time I tried to teach the dog something. After that I shut the com-link, dedicating my attention on something more important. The dog and the man were on their own.

"I love that sound." Dudley said grinning.  
"What sound?"  
"Isaac being silent." The dog enjoyed the loud dirty laughter of his friend. He joined in and let the tension in him go for a few seconds.

"Well, indeed, it´s a good sound." René meant as his laughter wore off and became a loud giggle.  
"Okay actually he is an okay guy." Dudley smiled. "If he doesn´t starts talking science."  
"Hell yes." Moaned René like most people do when the walk out of a 90 minute long lecture held by me. "Sometimes I think he just wants to make people´s mind spin."

"Remember when he tried to explain me the spectral anomalies of the energy emissions of anti-mater reactors?"  
"The thing when positrons and electrons of with weight variation?"

"Exactly. I think I had a headache for three days after that." Dudley meant and narrow his eyes to slits. "But I got my revenge… terrible revenge."  
"What did you do?"  
"You know that he sometimes sleeps on his table?" he grinned mischieviously. "I glued his head to it."

René burst into laughter and was so loud doing so that Dudley´s ears hurt. He just wished he could change the volume of the integrated speakers in his helmet.  
"You sick dog." The engineer meant blinking away tears of laughter.  
"I take that as a compliment." Dudley said feeling a little bit proud about his prank.

"How long did he need to get his face off the table?" René asked eagerly.  
"About 1 hour… by the way, that stays our secret."  
"So he has no plan what happened? I like that." René patted Dudley´s back what made the dog hiss.

"Oh, sorry." Meant the Engineer. "Still the thing with explosion?"  
"Indeed." He meant slackening his features. Reluctantly he tried not to remember the incident 3 weeks ago in which he not only lost the third ship under his command but also was hit by an explosion that had burnt his whole back.

Fortunately, what was more than luck under these circumstances, his whole crew survived. Survived again to be correctly because he still had every single member of the crew that was with him on his first under his command. That was absolute record in the Alliance.

"It heals slowly." Mumbled René tapping on a display on the wrist of his suit. As he had touched it the display started emitting a few holograms with a light blue color which he eyed critically. "Look at that." He gave Dudley a nudge on the arm with his elbow and pointed at one of the holograms.

"Gravitational interferences." Dudley smirked. "Well, we wanted that, didn´t we?"  
"I know Duds, but… I hate this plan."  
"I don´t like it either…" Sighed Dudley and pinned his gaze back onto the grey rock on which they were walking. "But I trust Powers, at least his plans."

"I thought you´d hate him." René raised his eyebrow high up looking at his friend without moving his head from the direction in which he walked.  
"Oh I do." Declared Dudley like he just explained utterly basic thing. "I still haven´t forgiven him that he has lied to me."

"Dudley that´s about 600 years ago… you are pretty resentful." René said and in front of Dudley´s eyes the flashbacks of the moments back then on the bridge of the Leviathan. The moment when his whole world proved to be a lie.

"How long I keep my grudges is my business, René." Dudley said frostily.  
"No it isn´t only your business. Your permanent anger against Powers is clearly interfering any situation in which you two you are involved." The engineer said almost casually while checking his display again and again.

"Are you referring to something in particular?!" growled Dudley.  
"Cekirge attack 16 years ago." René simply said and grinned at the dog who started frowning. Every time when they talk about this René brought up that incident.

"What happened there has nothing…" Dudley was about to say his usual phrase in situation but René countered with his own standard sentence.  
"Power´s order was to abandon the ship but you were too stubborn."  
"I needed to prevent the core from destabilizing."

"Oh come on quit that bullshit!" The engineer shouted in exasperation he had heard this answer from Dudley way too often.  
"That´s no bullshit." The dog said calmly and looked bored at the display on his wrist.

"It is the biggest I´ve ever heard! You weren´t even close to a terminal! No the only freaking thing you did was get stabbed by this Cekirge zombie asshole!"  
"Well, glad he had a knife." Dudley said casually.

"You have no idea how god damn lucky you are? If that zombie had been in the second metamorphose state we wouldn´t have this conversation right now." René meant and slapped Dudley at the back of his helmet.

"But he wasn´t so let´s not deepen into that." The dog said and summoned the end of the conversation with this sentence. It wasn´t time to talk anyway.  
Dudley checked the display again. They were so close that they should see them any second now.

"Duds, rendezvous time." René meant as the dark edges of a gigantic, bulky battle ship which heaved itself gradually above the asteroids horizon.  
"Wow…" Exclaimed Dudley surprisedly. He had heard in the briefing how big that ship allegedly was but as he saw it in front of him he knew that Powers' word couldn´t describe its hugeness in any way.

"Shitty ship." Huffed René completely unimpressed.  
"Wha… Why that?" the dog turned to René and looked at him in disbelieve. "Do you look at this ship right now?!" He pointed furiously at it. "Do you even see it?"  
"Yeah, it´s big, so what?" The engineer shrugged. "The only thing the engineers did there were compensating something."

"What´s wrong with you?" Dudley shook his head and turned back to the ship.  
"Nothing. But this ship is just spitting in my face… in every engineers face." He looked angrily at the vessel and if his helmet hadn´t hindered him René would have spit towards the ship. "It is just big, nothing else. No new shields, no new on-board computer system, no new weapons. Just big. Big reactor, big shield, emitter's big guns. Strictly built according to the motto: If you can´t build it better build it bigger."

"But that is better, I mean… we have no chance with our ship against that." Dudley meant and looked towards the horizon which was covered by the ship. And still not everything of the ship had risen above the rim of the asteroid.

"The next technology generation will have." René simply said.  
"If Isaac and his team make another breakthrough."  
"When. I bet they are close to the next…" René didn´t finish his sentence, the shining light which the ship beamed down on them simply startled him too much to continue what he wanted to say.

The ship above them hovered calmly like it was pondering what it should do with the two hikers on this sparse asteroid. For a second it seemed that the vessel would maybe turn of the light and fly on, but the big blue energy sphere which it then shot towards a point further afar from their position made their intensions clear.

"There goes the shuttle." Sighed Dudley as within the boarders of the light cone the gravity started to turn. First smaller stones, then bigger boulders were pulled towards the ship and the pull finally got so strong that the true astronauts were sucked into the ship.

As the pull wore of and the gravity normalized again, René and Dudley found themselves in a big loading bay surrounded by a battalion of Union soldiers which were pointing with their palms at them.

"All of these fuckers are ready to fire, Duds." René hissed putting his hands up.  
"I know… just give them no reason." The dog said and followed slowly René's example. Actually expected Dudley them to shoot. He didn´t know why but he had the strange feeling that today was the day it would all end.

But he had this feeling almost every mission. It started at the 80th anniversary of his extraction out of the singularity. This was the day he realized that his world, no matter if it existed or not, must have forgotten him. Kitty, Keswick, the chief, his mom… all the people he loved and cared about must have been dead by then. Even if he had returned on that day it would be very likely that his child would also be dead by then.

There was no one waiting for him. Going back had no sense. And for himself his existence also didn´t. From that day he was more daring, what was the best thing he could do actually. He was on many missions others hadn´t done and he had earned quite a lot of respect through that.

But also today he was proofed wrong as two soldiers out of the circle that formed around them had marched up to him and René and started tying them up. Not with robes of course, they used magnet handcuffs. Basically two metal armlets which were attached to the wrists of the person and then hold together by magnetic force.

These handcuffs maybe seemed like a simple hammer could break them but actually not even the most common combat phaser classes could scratch them.  
After the usual, and obviously mandatory, part in which they both were forced onto their knees they waited for the even more necessary part in which an authority would greet them.

But that didn´t happen. Over long corridors that glowed slightly red due to a lot of alarm lights which spread their red light onto the usual whiteness that ruled the shiny white hallways, they were brought to their cell.

Dudley had always wondered why all hallways had the same white color on every ship of every fraction. But the answers he had get as he once asked the question were disillusioning. The best answer he had ever got was from Meternagel who simply said. "Because it looks more sci-fi." Well, he was kind of right with that.

After the guards had made sure that both of them really had no chance to flee, by putting some cuffs around their feet too, they left the room and locked the door tightly. Now they were alone, together. Just them and a weakly gleaming light on the ceiling which seemed to get lower the longer you look at it.

"Well… here we are now." The dog said.  
"Yeah, no shit Sherlock." René said and stood up, what needed some time because of the footcuffs. "And… what now?"

"Uhm… the waiting game I guess…" Dudley meant and looked up to the ceiling. "Is… is that a visual effect or what is wrong with the light?"  
"Who the hell cares?" René asked and hopped around.  
"Is it getting low or is that… oh could you stop doing this ridiculous bunny hop?" Dudley moaned with an annoyed tone as he saw René hopping around like a mentally disturbed rabbit.

"There has to be a way out of here." The engineer huffed as he jumped around. "And I´ll be damned if I don´t find it!"  
"Then be damned, just stop hopping around. You make my head hurt." Dudley leaned against the hard cold wall behind him. "This is actually way better than expected…"

"You kidding?" René looked utterly surprised at the dog and stopped hopping around.  
"No, I thought we would sit in some kind of cells with force fields instead of walls and permanent torture."

"Usually it is like that…" René meant slowly. "Without the torture of course. We weren´t captured by an intelligence agency."  
"So it´s okay to torture for secret agencies?" asked Dudley raising an eyebrow.  
"This shit is frowned upon among all humans…"

"But the agencies are…" Dudley was about to finish the sentence but René interrupted him rolling his eyes.  
"Duds, don´t start this debate!" He said and leaned against the wall where he let himself glide down to the ground. Sitting on the solid steel he pulled his legs closer to him. "Shit… have I mentioned that I hate waiting?"

"About 20,000 times since I know you. But hey, cheer up. Don´t you know that´s character building?" Despite of their desperate situation Dudley was able to force a smile.  
"I hate you." Frowned René what amused Dudley so much that it made him smile even wider.

"Come on… we just have to kill some time, don´t worry."  
"Waiting for an unfair trial which will sentence us to a life in a dirty Union prison." René tried not to sound too hopelessly as he summarized what would probably happen next.

"That´s just how it goes." The dog meant shrugging nonchalantly. "And if we are lucky, we can share a cell and became best buddies until death."  
"Thanks, but no thanks." Meant René and looked at his friend like he had suggested becoming best buddies with benefits.

"Okay, if you don´t want." The dog yawned relaxed and stretched.  
"How can you be so damn chilled?" René walked to Dudley and flopped down on the ground opposite him. "You realized where we are?!"

"Indeed but…" Dudley leaned his head back and looked to the ceiling. "…I don´t know, I´m kind of… not afraid of being here."  
René leaned his head to the side looking like a confused chicken at Dudley´s smile for a brief moment.

"Oh…" he then meant and shook his head. "I understand…" René had read the smile in Dudley´s face. He knew this kind of smile, although he couldn´t say that he had other references than Dudley, but he had seen it often enough on the dogs face to interpret it.

"600 years, René." Dudley said as his voice started to tremble and the smile on his face faded. "Even if my homeworld exists, and I don´t know if I can believe these memories or not, everyone I knew would be dead by now."  
"I knew Duds…" sighed the engineer. "But come on, cheer up. I mean your life isn´t that bad. You are captain of a ship you are famous... relatively famous… and you… you…"

"See?" Sighed the dog and beat the back of his head against the wall behind him. "I should have never took that flight… if these memories are even true."  
"Now come on Duds…" René meant thinking hard with what he could cheer the dog up. "Think about the good things. The ship… fame…"

"You already mentioned that." Dudley squinted his eyes tiredly like someone who looked directly into the smoke of a fire.  
"Yes… you had a little get together with Liz, didn´t you?"  
Hearing that made the dog grin coyly and blush. "I…"

"Yeah, rumors spread fast in the fleet." Grinned René happier about hearing possible rumors than about the fact that he made it to light up Dudley´s mood a little bit. "Now tell me, how was it? And don´t come up with this 'A gentleman never tells' shit."

"Well okay…" Dudley opened his eyes and fixed his gaze on his friend "But I´ll stay discrete though."  
"Spit it out." Meant René and started grinning getting ready for a nice load of gossip from the first hand.

"Well, here´s the short version. We came together, had a lot of fun for a short while and then realized that we both were too different. But we separated as friends." Dudley watched René's gaze going from the greedy grin to a disappointed frown.

"Come on!" He protested. "Details!"  
"Nope." Dudley said and leaned his head against the wall again now with a slight, triumphing smile.  
"Don´t be an asshole, tell me." The engineer laid one hand on Dudley´s shoulder and shook him gently. "It would kill time, come on!"

"No… but how about another story?"  
"I don´t believe that you have something that is as good as…"  
"I beat Isaac in a game of chess." Dudley meant cutting his friend short.

"Yeah, sure." René chuckled in a way that it sounded like a growl. "I don´t want to hear fantasy stories, I want to hear about your relationship with Liz!"  
"I mean it." Dudley said emphatically and grinned insolently.

"Oh come on!" René meant but this time he really growled. "Isaac is maybe not the best chess player in the universe but he takes part in tournaments sometimes. No way you beat him. No freaking way."  
"There was a way." Dudley said nonchalantly. "I cheated."

"Cheated? You cheated Isaac?" René rolled his eyes. Dudley saw that he still wasn´t believing him but he at least he had successfully guided his attention away from Liz and him.  
"Yeah, I also learnt that this wasn´t a good idea. It was 100 years ago in his lab…"


	2. A simple game of chess

"Ah, Dudley, it is you." A man wearing an old looking lab coat, which has turned grey during the years of use, stroked some of his uncombed dark blonde hair out of his face and shook my hand.  
"Isaac." I grinning and bit back my laughter. Isaac really looked like he hadn´t left his lab for a couple of weeks.

The clothes under his coat looked dirty but they didn´t smell. Not even his dirty, once white, socks which jutted out of his black boots did. Not even a little a bit. Generally he didn´t smell, he never did, like all other humans. It´s an odd thing I realized after living a while among them.

Back on my homeworld, if it had existed, what I don´t really believe anymore. Anyway, back on my imaginary homeworld everyone had a certain smell which my sensitive nose could smell perfectly. I remember that for example Keswick always smelled a bit sour. But not the sour stench of dried sweat, it was more a chemical smell.

You could compare it to, I don´t know, a vinegar-based cleaner maybe. What I wanted to say is that everyone had a smell and I could recognize people by their smell. But here, nothing. It was odd after I realized it but after a while I got used to it. And sometimes it is very pleasant not to smell everything. I mean Isaac must have stank terrible if he had a smell.

"Why are you have this gr… oh." Isaac facepalmed himself in shame and walked into his lab. "I am so sorry, I was just a bit too preoccupied lately to care for the obvious body hygiene issue."  
"Don´t worry… at least you don´t smell." I said and followed him into the lab which also looked pretty worn. The usual flawless white color of the desks was gone and yield to a slight black color.

I stepped closer to one of the tables and realized that the color didn´t came from ashes or soot, the table had changed his color permanently.  
"You… gave the lab your own touch?" I mumbled wiping with the finger over the desk proofing my theory.

"Kind of." Smiled Isaac and laid his hands on my shoulders. Swiftly he turned me around and pushed me onto the desk on the other side. "Look, here." Isaac smiled proudly and pointed at a little round object which was levitating over a little round device.

"You made it fly, oh my god, call the press." I chortled sarcastically.  
"Well… yes." Isaac said and bowed a little not letting my sarcasm get under his skin. "But also, look at this." The scientist took a small device from the table, a flashlight what I realized as he beamed at the object.

The little ball started glowing and a split second later it emitted a white beam which hit the wall and started melting through it.  
"Whoa…" I meant surprised. "That´s cool but what is it?"

"I created a prototype of a new Paulium crystal which now can focus the energy input even better. We are achieving a performance improvement of up to 20 times." Isaac looked proudly at the little object. He looked more proud than I have ever seen someone looking at an object. "My prototype crystal can cut through the hull of a ship like a hot knife through butter… actually, I should not be so happy about that. That will bring so much destruction. But hey, you do not commit a genocide alone, do you?"

"I guess… no…" I said and scratched a spot behind my ear. "Anyway… Isaac… you wanted to talk?"  
"Oh, yes, indeed, I wanted to talk." Isaac nodded and pointed at an empty spot next to the chamber with the steel door behind which my namesake, Isaac´s dog Dudley, lived.  
"Hey, by the way, how is Dudley?" I immediately asked after him.

"Oh, he is bit sick but he is going to be okay."  
"Why? What happened?"  
"Well, this little rascal managed to snatch a piece of chocolate away from me." Isaac sighed and smiled softly. "But he will survive it, it was just a little piece."

"What´s so bad about chocolate?" I asked and tilted my head confusedly.  
"Well, chocolate is like poison for dogs." He said and I got even more confused.  
"I can eat chocolate. Lots of it… I love it!"

"Well, you are not an ordinary dog." Isaac chuckled and tousled through my hair like he usually did with Dudley.  
"If you start asking if I´m a 'good doggie' now, I swear, I´ll bite you." I growled and Isaac pulled his hand back.

"Bad doggie." Isaac grinned as we arrived at the spot. There he tilted his head back and called to the ceiling "Computer, chessboard."  
"Go to hell." A voice from the ceiling replied.  
"Oh… fantastic." Isaac cursed and closed his eyes tightly in exasperation.

"Yeah, you know my name, idiot! So use it! And would it be too much for you to ask kindly? It´s always the same with you always this…" The voice started getting worked up more and more with every word and was at the brink of a serious anger fit. Luckily, I know just the words to calm it down.  
"Hey, Mike, how are you?" I said friendlily and put the nicest smile on my face.

"…Oh, hey Dudley." Mike´s voice immediately calmed down and now sounded warm and welcoming. "Not much, just screaming down an idiot."  
"I hear that. Good work with that." I giggled and giggled even more as Isaac crossed his arms and huffed. "Anyway, the idiot and I want to play chess would you be so kindly…"

"Say no more." The computer said and out of thin air a chessboard and two chairs made from dark wood materialized in front of them.  
"Thank you." I smiled.  
"Have fun." The voice said and fell silent.

"It´s always the same with you, Isaac. Why can´t you just treat him like a person?" I asked the scientist and sat down in front of the chess board.  
"I helped programming him. He is and stays a program for me." The scientist sighed and sat down on the other chair.

"So what? If you father a child you also take part in its creation. Would the kid just be a pile of cells for you?"  
Isaac raised both of his eyebrows surprised. "That… that is actually a good point, Dudley."  
"I know." I grinned and turned the board so that the white pieces were on my side. "And that´s why I start."

"If you like to, go ahead." Isaac leaned back in his chair and yawned relax. He would barely concentrate on the game. That was good, exactly what I wanted. The less attention I get the easier it was for me to do what I need to do to win.

"Okay…" I said and made my first move with my knight and then waited for him. "You wanted to talk?"  
"Indeed, just wanted to know how you are… and how the war goes." He yawned while speaking and made no effort leaning forward and looking at the board yet.

"I´m okay and about the war…" I took a deep breath and tried not to sigh. "Not well, we lost another system."  
"How many casualties?" Asked Isaac coldly.  
"2.5 Million… terrible bombardment." I stroked sighing through my hair. "We could really need a breakthrough… Powers is planning something but…" I sighed again.

"Calm down." Isaac said and leaned forward. His clear blue eyes looked into mine and a grin played around his lips. "I actually thought after the war began that we would be already defeated by now. We are actually making good"  
"500 million casualties, Isaac. Is that good?"

"No. But it could be worse." He smiled and gave me a nudge on the shoulder. "And now let´s change the subject, okay?"  
I nodded and tried to avert my thoughts from the darks of death to my vicious plan to win.

"Wow, new move." Chortled Isaac as he casted a quick glance at the board. Then he copied my move and leaned back again.  
"Seriously, and you laugh about me, copy-cat?" I asked and moved a pawn.

"Indeed." He meant and swiftly moved one of the pieces in a way that exuded an aura of justified arrogance. If I remember correctly he didn´t even have his eyes open while he made his moves. Like in many games before that I already knew that I would lose if I play fair. But as I said, my winning strategy was already in the making.

First phase was lulling him into a false sense of security. That was done after 5 more moves on both sides. He had already started his maneuver what meant that I had 10 or maybe 12 moves until I was check mate. But here the second phase started.

"Uhm, Isaac?" I asked moving my bishop. "Can I use your bathroom?"  
"Sure…" Yawned Isaac and pointed at a door near the entrance.  
I nodded and mumbled "Thank you." Before I entered the little bathroom that had just barely enough space for the toilet.

But I wasn´t there to use this bathroom anyway, so I didn´t care about the room´s design too much.  
"Hey, Mike, are you here?" I whispered speaking towards the ceiling.  
"I am here." Said the computer also with a muffled voice. "Why are we whispering?"  
"Because I am planning a conspiracy." I meant grinning mischievously.

The voice stayed silent for a minute and then replied with a worried tone of voice. "A…conspiracy?"  
"Yes, against Isaac and I need your help…"  
"I´m in." meant Mike cutting me short what surprised me quite a lot. If I hadn´t known that Mike was unable because of his programming to hurt Isaac I´d be very alarmed. But it was of course nevertheless very unsettling.

"Don´t you want to know about what the conspiracy is?" I asked and scratched the back of my head.  
"No. I´m in." he said firmly.  
"Okay… uhm… well, I know you want to piss Isaac off and I want that too. So, my plan is that you´ll help me to win the game of chess."

"Intriguing, how do you want to do that?"  
I cleared my throat and started explaining. "It´s not easy but we have to confuse him so that I can repeat my move once or twice. That plus his lack of interest about the game should be enough to make me win."

"It doesn´t sound like it would work." Doubted the computer.  
"Believe me, he´s tired, he´s inattentive, with a few tricks he won´t trust his own senses and then…" I started giggling evil and the computer joined in after a few seconds.

"Okay, what do you want me to do?"  
"I bet Isaac had carried out some experiments not too long ago, right?"  
"Yes, he ran a simulation 2 hours ago."  
I grinned, that was just what I need. "Great, pretend that the experiment just ended now."

"I think I know what you are up to. Good. I´m in."  
"Great Mike. Thank you." I grinned a last time towards the ceiling and then washed my hands and flushed. I stepped out of the little bathroom and walked back to the chess board.

"Well, you needed quite a while." Yawned Isaac and looked at me.  
"Uhm… indeed…" I meant and felt a bit awkward.  
"You should eat more fiber and…"

"Whoa, whoa…" I meant feeling more awkward. "I know old people like to talk about that but I don´t fill my conversations with…stool."  
"Since when you are falter when it comes to talking shit?" Giggled the scientist what made me roll my eyes intensively.

"Very funny." I sat down at the table and looked at the board. It still didn´t look that bad for me but Isaac would probably want to lure me into a trap. His bishop was at the side of the board and the little figure looked like it was already preparing to behead my king. I made my move, my tactic wasn´t good but it had to be enough.

"So Isaac…" I put my horse on a white field and looked at him. "How is Dudley?"  
"You already asked that…" Isaac said while staring at the ceiling.  
"No, I don´t remember I did."  
"Yes, you did right after you enter."

"No. I don´t remember." I said innocently.  
"Of course you…" In this second one of the holograms at the wall flashed up and started emitting a really annoying beeping.  
"What?!" Isaac stood up from his chair and ran to the hologram. I had to grin widely. Mike had the perfect timing. I love this AI.

"But… but I did that already 2 hours ago how… why…" Isaac eyed the charts flabbergasted. That was phase 3. That was the distraction I wanted. So I took my chance. And I took it twice. First I set Isaacs bishop one field back and after that I stood up and headed towards Isaac.

On my way to him, I grabbed the Paulium crystal from the table and put it unobtrusively into a drawer. "Anything wrong?" I asked as I reached him.  
"I already did this experiment why… Comp… uhm, Mike."  
"Yes?" The computer voice sounded like always but I believe if he have had a face he´d have a smile on it.

"Why do you display this experiment again?"  
"Because you wanted me to rerun the experiment. Seems like the energy output of the Paulium crystal is even bigger than expected." Mike meant summarizing the data.

"No I… but…" Isaac looked puzzled at the holograms. I could see that he pondered with himself if maybe the lack of sleep or his consequent coffee diet or both things maybe led to the chaos in his head. I almost felt sorry for him but as I heard him mumble things like "How could that happen to me? I don´t make mistakes. I mean I´m not an idiot... Or Dudley."

I gritted my teeth annoyed and took a deep breath. "Are we going to play chess or what?"  
"Y…Yes. Sorry, seems like I am a bit scatterbrained…" Isaac´s eyes grew wide before he finished the sentence. He stared at the place where the crystal once were. "Where is my crystal?!" He exclaimed and ran towards the desk.

He searched the tabletop, threw sheets around, opened boxes until the whole desk looked like a tornado ravaged on it. Isaac, who was closer to the nervous breakdown than I wanted him, started to open the drawers and rummaged through them.

And finally, to his great relief, he found it in the drawer I placed it. Isaac´s grabbed the crystal firmly with both hands and began to laugh like a maniac. "There you are." He laughed. "There you are…"  
"Uhm… Isaac…" I said watching him a bit perplex. That was much more than I wanted but not detrimental to my plan.

"I almost lost you… lost you." He patted the crystal, even nuzzled it a bit.  
_'Now or never.'_ I thought. I walked slowly backwards to the chess board, always with my eyes fixed at Isaac, and in a convenient moment I turned around and changed the situation to my liking. My heart beat faster as I turned around.

Of course what I did was not dangerous but I nevertheless felt a weird kick betraying Isaac. But as Isaac was back in my eyesight I could see that he didn´t even realize that I was here. He was just cuddling with his crystal who he was calling Pauli now.

"Isaac?" I stepped back behind him and knelt down. "Are you alright?"  
"I am… Pauli is back." He mumbled.  
"Isaac, calm down, everything is alright." I whispered and laid my hand on his shoulder.  
"Yes… yes it´s okay." Isaac meant and slowly stood up. His whole body trembled as he laid Pauli back onto the table and walked with me giving him support back to the board.

"You would… would not believe how bad it would have been if I had lost this crystal." Mumbled Isaac sitting down. "Pauli… I mean my prototype cost me lots of hours of work… it is a break through."  
I almost ignored his words and waited a bit until he was so clear again to continue playing.

"Well, let´s end this." I suppressed a smile saying that and tried looking sternly.  
Isaac nodded weakly and looked at the board. He didn´t even hesitate before making his move.  
"Uhm… Isaac…" I pointed with one hand smiling on the board while moving one of my pawns onto his queen. "Check…"

"No, now you kidding!" Isaac looked flabbergahsted at the board and started stammering. "I… but maybe… I… I… it was a long day…" He made his move, his last move. After everything I´ve done I could have played without manipulating the board against him. He was completely unstable and nervous. I moved my queen into the middle of the board, then it was over.

"Check mate, mate." I smiled widely while Isaac just stared at the board. "Well, that was fun." I extended my hand towards him offering him a handshake. But Isaac just kept staring right through my arm onto the black and white squares.

I pulled my arm back to me and tilted my head as I looked confused at him. "Uhm…hello? Anyone there?" I started waving my hand in front of his face.  
"You broke him." Laughed Mike evilly.  
"That´s more than I wanted." I started poking Isaac´s cheek with my finger to make him react at least a bit.

"That´s exactly what I hoped for." Mike said.  
"Aha…" I slapped Isaac´s cheek lightly and also didn´t receive any reaction. Isaac was completely catatonic. "What now?"  
"I take care for him, don´t worry."

"When you want to do that I need to worry." I meant and stood up.  
"Dudley, I am programmed to help hurt and helpless people. Even Isaac." Mike meant and sounded even a bit hurt because I believed that he´d hurt him.

"Okay." I nodded towards the ceiling before a turned towards the door and started walking. As I reached the doorframe I turned around one more time and said "See you Isaac."  
Then I left, and closed the door behind me.


	3. The deal

**-Hey guys. I know it took me a while but here´s a new chapter. Actually two new but short chapters. Hope you have fun with them :)-**

"Dammit Duds…" Laughed René and ruffled through the dog´s hair. "Good prank, really good one."  
"Thank you." Smiled Dudley and indicated a bow while sitting. "But I wouldn´t have made it without Mike´s help."

"Good ol' Mike. You just have to love this AI… well, except you´re Isaac." René laughed again and then looked at the handcuffs around his wrist. "You don´t know the time, do you?"  
"40 minutes until Alpha, 60 minutes until Delta, 61 until Phi" Dudley recited a schedule he knew perfectly well. "You´ll hear the alarm when it starts."

"That means we still have a lot of time to kill…" René grinned.  
"I wouldn´t call 40 minutes a long time." Meant Dudley annoyed knowing what his friend would ask now.

"Enough time to tell me the story about you and Liz." René grinned expectantly at his friend and received just a face full of indignation.  
"No."

"Aww, come on." René nudged Dudley gently with his shoulder. "I want to hear it!"  
"I said no." He meant tonelessly. "That´s none of your business."  
"Come on, don´t be like that…"  
"No, it´s none of your business, René. That´s a thing just between her and me." Dudley stated seriously.

"But I´d really like to know…" René sighed but Dudley interrupted him again  
"Everyone likes to know it." He snapped. "Why are all of you space travelers are so dead keen on gossip?!"  
"Well, we are explorer and researcher." Shrugged René.

"So you explain that with your gossip cravings with scientific curiosity?!"  
"What? No." Laughed René. "With boredom. As I said, we are researchers and explorers. We travel on ships through space almost isolated from the civilization. We either work or… try to kill time. The holo-deck is barely free. I mean one hour per week for every crew member is simply not enough. So… we have to kill time in another way…"

"For example gossip…" Sighed Dudley and completed René´s sentence. He understood it somehow though he had never experienced the boredom his friend talked about. The captain of a ship had a manifold of things he had to care about.

From smaller things like routine walks to check the condition of the ship to time consuming things like individual talk with every crew member. It sounds odd but every crew member has the right to talk to the captain if he wants to. Especially in times in which critical decisions were made, decisions with that not everyone agrees, a long line of people stands in front of the officer´s mess waiting for their turn to talk to the captain.

Dudley knew that this was current practice on all ships except on the Leviathan. Powers always had a sympathetic ear for his crew in calm times. But when the times were rough he didn´t discuss his decisions with the crew. His word is law on his ship. And no one dared breaking the law. Not even in the few months after he had recovered, in the months in which he was still easy to confuse.

"Okay, I understand your point." Meant Dudley. "But you won´t get anything out of me. What happened between me and Liz is none of your business."  
"Boo! Boring." Said René while he grinned provokingly. "Tell me!"  
"How about another story?" asked the dog. He hoped that he maybe could distract René´s attention so that he would stop asking him about Liz.

"About Liz?"  
"No, about… uhm… about my homeworld."  
"I thought you don´t believe in your homeworld." Said the scientist with an overly suspicious tone of voice. "I thought you said it´s just a false implemented thought by someone you don´t know who gets help from Powers."

Dudley looked at him confused. "I never said that to you. How do you know?"  
"Well…" René said and grinned. "Powers said that. I once eavesdropped a conversation between him, Isaac and Ryan."  
"Ryan talks with Isaac again?"

"Not really, Isaac just asked him how possible it is that your memories are real. He said something about a theory…"  
"What?!" Dudley looked excited into his friends face. "Tell me more! Please!"  
Again René grinned. But this time wide and more evil than Dudley has ever seen it. "Of course… for a price."

"Whatever you…" Dudley would have given him everything in this moment but then he realized what the engineer wanted. "Son of a…"  
"Tell me about your little adventure with Liz, and I tell you about what I heard." Said René and turned his´s unspoken suspicion into hard words.

Dudley growled a bit and thought. "Just if you promise that you won´t tell anyone…"  
"Of course." Meant René still grinning.  
"That´s not enough. I want a promise. And you tell me the thing with Isaac and Ryan first."

"Just if you promise me to tell me about Liz even if you have the information from me." René crossed his arms and so did Dudley. Both looked at each other, eying their faces for any trace that could give the others plan away.

"Deal." Meant Dudley after at least 5 minutes of continuous staring. "I promise."  
"Same here." Nodded René. "I promise."  
Both shook their hands as an obligatory gesture to seal their contract.

"Okay." Said René and took a deep breath. "It all began after the crew of the Leviathan intervened on the Stardancer..."


	4. A new border

It all began after the crew of the Leviathan intervened on the Stardancer. I remember it like it was yesterday. I mean, you know me, I´m not really the guy the runs away scared from anything… but these beasts… these giant beasts with their claws and jaws and… well, you know them. You know them good.

I mean on this day one of them took your second heart. Well… now that I say it, it sounds weird to call what the shit it did to you like that. I mean this oversized grasshopper pierced your chest with his claw… Okay, okay. I interpret the look you give me now as a broad hint to start telling.

Well, you weren´t the only one who took damage on the ship. But in comparison to you my wounds were nothing. Just a broken arm and a broken leg. I remember I sat on a stretcher in the crowded med bay. You remember, our ship was hit pretty critical by this assimilated Cekirge ship and still some of the crew fought with death.

Anyway, I waited for Ryan, or anyone who could tend my wounds, as Isaac rushed into the room. He not only looked like a wreck with his dirty lab coat and messy hair, also the worried look on his face showed that his mental condition was not a bit better than his outer looks. At first he looked around in panic before he stumbled towards me.

"You… René, right?" He panted heavily. He must have sprinted the whole way from his lab here. As far as I know, quite a distance.  
"Yes." I hissed as he held on my broken arm.

"Where is your Captain?"  
"I don´t know, last time I hav…"  
"I did not ask for the boring story of your life. Just tell me where he is!" Though he seemed still out of breath he had gathered enough air to scream that last part.

"I said I don´t know, idiot!" I screamed back angrily. Nobody screams at me without a reason. Yeah, okay, don´t look at me like that. I know that this was a shitty idea. Isaac is a bastard. And he was back then as he tightened the grip around my arm. I groaned in pain while I heard him ask "Where is he?" again.

"I don´t know." I screamed and repeated screaming "I don´t know. I don´t know. I don´t know." Until he finally stopped. Not because he had the answer he wanted, more because Ryan pushed him away from me.

"You imbecile!" Cursed the doctor and pointed with a scalpel at Isaac. "Dare to do this again and I swear I´ll practice the first autopsy on a living person."  
"Ryan!" Isaac seemed surprised and relieved at the same time as he saw him.

Quickly he asked him the question with which he had bothered me already. "Where is Dudley?"  
"He is here." Meant Ryan now very formal. "And to preempt your next question. He is in a stable state."

"Thank god…" breathed Isaac and for a second I thought he would break down on the floor now because of his relieve. "What happened to him?"

"Well…" Ryan turned to me and started to scan my body by tapping on different body parts with the white glove he wore on his left hand. After every tap various holograms appeared which he eyed for a moment. "He didn´t comply with Powers order and thought defending the bridge was a good idea. He got into a fight with two Cekirges. He could kill one but the other has rammed his claw through his chest."

"Have you…"  
Again Ryan preempted Isaac´s question. "Yes, no infection."  
This time Isaac actually had to sit down. "This lucky idiot." He laughed panting heavily.

"Indeed." Meant Ryan as he tapped my arm. He looked at the holograms for a second then he formed a pistol with index, middle finger and thumb and then pushed his fingers on my skin. I immediately felt a how the pain in my arm faded. A good feeling.

"Well, what about you? Need help to get up again?" Ryan asked looking at the ground next to Isaac after he also tended my leg. It seemed that he had already forgot about me again. Even if I don´t know if he had realized that I was there in first place. This asshole really thinks his patients are just pieces of meat.

"I am okay." Said the scientist as he slowly got back on his legs. Again he laughed and said. "Let me guess. The Cekirge was in the second metamorphose state, right? Otherwise he would have had not the slightest chance to be not infected. "

"Your guess is right." Ryan nodded. "Also notable is that he has the worst injuries from his whole crew. I´m a little confused about the why though."  
"Well, he did what a real leader does." Said a voice and not long after hearing it I saw its owner. The tired but besides that normally looking Captain Powers built himself up next to Ryan. "Always first in the battle. Always the last one who fights."

"Captain." Said Ryan and coldly nodded towards Powers.  
"Hey Sly." Smiled Isaac.  
"Hey." Smiled Powers but pretty quick also he asked Ryan. "How is Dudley?"

"Stable state. Currently in stasis. Not infected." Ryan summarized in a military tone.  
"Excellent." Meant Powers and also his face showed signs of relief. "Even if he didn´t comply I am very glad he made it."

"You two should really sort out your little dispute." meant Isaac.  
"I really try, Izzy, I really do." Powers shrugged helplessly. "He blocks all of my attempts to talk with him."

"I can imagine this… he is so unbelievably stubborn." Sighed Isaac and shook his head in desperation.  
"I know… and he´s still angry that I haven´t told him about the sector and his nonexistent homeworld." Meant Powers sighing.

"He also still believes that someone implemented this memories with your help into him?"  
"Yes. But…" the captain made a helpless gesture. "That´s nonsense."  
"I shouldn´t have given him the data about thought altering." Said Isaac and groaned annoyed. "I should generally stop giving him things that fuel his fantasy."

"How could he even invent such an absurd story? I mean implementing false memories into a dog mutant. For what purpose? That´s so pointless. Why should anyone do that? And why should I help?"  
"I agree, Sly. It´s maybe the only thing that makes sense for him. But still I think…" Isaac stopped in mid-sentence looking like he was pondering about something that troubled him for a while already.

"What?" Asked Powers interestedly.  
Isaac turned to Ryan who was tending the wounds of another patient nearby. "Ryan, how possible is the theory with the implemented thoughts? I mean you would recognize if a thought gets implemented into a brain, right?"

"Indeed." Meant the doctor without honoring them with eye contact. "I would recognize that."  
"And you have scanned Dudley´s brain several times. Did you find anything like that?"  
"I found a higher activity in the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex, so signs that are usually detectable in a brain that recovers from an severe amnesia, but no traces of an extrinsic inference into one of these regions." He meant.

"And could the whole thing just be imagination?" Asked Isaac skeptically.  
"It´s hard to say… there would be more active brain regions if the whole thing was just imagination. I´m pretty sure these are real memories."

"Is it possible that his memories were maybe changed with a new technique."  
"That´s a stupid question, even for you." Ryan meant and turned around to Isaac and Sly. "The one who changed his brain must have done that about 600 years ago. By now this new technique from back then must be well known to every practicing physician in the whole universe. Especially I would know about the technique by now and no. There is no new technique. His mind wasn´t altered."

"Okay… thanks." Said Isaac sheepishly and turned back to Powers. "But that just confirms the theory I have."  
"Spit it out Isaac." Said the captain who became more and more inpatient.  
"It´s all true… All his thoughts…"

"Oh, not this again." Powers massaged the ridge of his nose irritatedly with two fingers. "We already discussed this. That does make less sense than Dudley´s theory. I mean where is the planet with his species? We should at least find rests of a civilization somewhere."

"Yeah but what if the black hole we pulled him out is not just a recklessly matter devouring voracious abyss but also gate to another world?" Isaac´s eyes blazed in convincement as he smiled almost triumphing at Powers.

"You know I can suspend you for being drunk during your shift?" Mocked the captain.  
"I am serious. What if next to our empty universe there is a universe full of live and variety. What if we are really alone… but just here?"  
"You mean that seriously, don´t you?" Probed the captain.

"Imagine we could pass this border and step into this universe full of life. What would we see, hear, smell, taste? What could we learn? Sly, for one second, imagine it. We would not be alone any longer. We would be part of something bigger, part of a community of thousands of races and stars."

"You sound crazy… and I know what crazy is, I work with Meternagel." Powers meant and looked worried at Isaac whose eyes almost teared up because of the mere impact his own words had on himself.

"I am not crazy, I will prove it, you will see!"

"Do that if that´s what makes you happy, but leave Dudley alone. I don´t want him to get disappointed."

"Do not worry." Laughed Isaac. "But he will be the first to hear about this when I have the proof."  
Well, after that the only thing that happened was that first Isaac and then Sly left the sickbay. Just Ryan stayed and tended the wounded. But I think you already know what you need…


	5. The other side

"But I think you already know what you need to know, don´t you?" Asked René grinning and looked into Dudley´s face. A wild mixture of surprise, anger, joy and fear was reflected in the dog´s expression. Surprise that Isaac was really developing a theory about alternative worlds. Fear that this theory could maybe lead to nothing. But then nevertheless joy that there was hope again. And anger because Powers and Isaac just decided not to tell him.

"So, Dudley… I think you owe me something." René meant expectantly but the dog still was preoccupied deciding what he should feel now.  
"Give me a minute… I have to summarize that… I…" Dudley stood up and started walking in circles in the cell. Of course with extremely small steps, he was still cuffed after all.

"They hid it from me…" he started mumbling. "I can understand it but they hid it from me… but what now… Can I believe it? Is my homeworld out there what if I…" Dudley started breathing more heavily. "Keswick, mom, the chief, Kitty… Kitty and my kid! But this was 600 years ago!" His breath stopped and looked down at his feet. "They are dead… all dead… DEAD!"

Dudley wanted to make a step bigger than his chains allowed it and fell onto the ground. "DEAD!" He screamed and started sobbing.  
"Do you still wonder why they wouldn´t want to tell you?" René murmured more to himself than to Dudley who had started crying. He had completely forgotten about the engineers next to him, otherwise he had never allowed himself such an emotionally outburst during a mission.

"Dudley, could you calm the fuck down?" René meant harshly.  
"I can´t…" sobbed Dudley. "I simply can´t… Everyone I loved…"  
"Is probably dead, but you knew that!"

"But before that I thought they don´t exist!" He meant and howled.  
"I shouldn´t have told you this story." René shook his head and stood up. "Now, please get up… and stop crying like a little baby!"

But Dudley kept on crying, silently though, but he simply couldn´t stop the feeling of loss from stabbing his psych. Also he couldn´t stop this hurt psych from producing mind poisoning pictures. Kitty, what happened to her? How was her life? Has she lived it good? And the kid… it was pure torture for Dudley to imagine how many moments he missed.

"Dudley… you have to get up, I think they´re coming." René was on the wall to the hallway and listened attentively. He was right, two heavily armored guards opened their prison door. Dudley couldn´t see the faces under their helmets but he could swear that they were grinned as they saw him lying in a puddle of his own tears.

Both grabbed him and René and led through the always alike looking shinny white hallways to the ship´s bridge. It was a bridge with the layout of the Leviathan´s bridge. On the captain´s seat sat a dashing looking man with a friendly but very young looking face who turned to them as soon as they entered the bridge.

"Ah, excellent." Meant the man and indicated the two guards with a gesture to leave the bridge. Nodding the men complied and as soon as they were gone the man giggled. "Captain Dudley 'Rocketman' Puppy." He whistled amused. "I´m very pleased to welcome you on my humble ship."

"The pleasure is all yours, captain Farnell." Meant Dudley grimly. He felt ashamed for his obviously puffy eyes now which were eyed very closely by Farnell.  
"Little breakdown?" the captain asked immediately.  
"Nothing that should concern you." Meant Dudley quick. "So we finally are obtain the honor to get interrogated by you?"

"What? No." Laughed Farnell and started like a satellite trapped in an orbit to walk around them. "I´m just here so I can tell you that your little foolish plan about attacking my ship was unsuccessful like all your efforts in this war."  
"What do you mean?"

Farnell just grinned and snapped his fingers twice.  
The same two guards entered the room while dragging two man behind them. Dudley recognized Powers´ and Meternagel´s face very quickly even if it was quite hard in this case. Both of them looked like someone had beaten them in the face several times.

"Do you understand me now?" giggled Farnell and also told these two guards with a gesture to leave the bridge.  
"Great… good work Powers." Moaned Dudley annoyed.  
"Well, it wasn´t his fault actually." Smiled Farnell. "If you and your friend hadn´t given us clues about a planned infiltration of the ship we wouldn´t have caught those two." He laughed a bit and turned to Powers. "It was your stupid plan to take over a giant ship with just 4 people wasn´t it?"

"Hmm…what?" Asked Powers grinning widely. "Sorry, baby face, I just thought about making a play date with my niece Karen for you. She´s 4 so a bit older than you but you two should come along."  
"You son of a…" Farnell cursed and rammed his fist in Powers face.

"Uhm… Captain, did you even feel that?" Asked Meternagel also grinning. "I mean baby´s fists are so tiny and soft." Also the pilot received a hit for this remark.  
"Stop it! Stop!" barked captain Farnell. His eyes stared so angry at the two laughing idiots that Dudley feared that they would pop out.

"Oh, look, he´s crying." Laughed Powers.  
"Could someone please give him a pacifier?" Meternagel asked with pretended anger.  
"I don´t have one… maybe he´s just hungry. Go breastfeed him."  
"What? Why I? You are the one of us with more flesh. Ergo, you have the bigger breasts."  
"These are just muscles." Powers huffed before Farnell´s fist hit his and then Meternagel´s face again.

"Guys…" sighed René annoyed.  
"Shh…" hushed Dudley. "I want to see how many hits they can take."  
"I guess his fist gives up before they do."  
"That would be wonderful." The dog giggled and grinned towards Powers and Meternagel who fired one stupid pun after the other.

"I should kill you two" Farnell screamed and then, all of the sudden, as he pointed the glowing palm of his glove alternatively at Powers and Meternagel, the lights went out.  
Even though Dudley was prepared for this blackout he was still surprised has his chains fall off him. But this was a rather mild surprise compared to the seeing what was the source of the weird gargling noise in front of him that appeared shortly after the lights went out. As the power was back and he saw everything again he also saw the source.

Meternagel was choking Farnell while Powers punched the other captain´s face. Dudley had not much time to wonder what they were doing, he snatched the glove from the almost unconsciousness Farnell and started to shot at the other bridge crew members that were still to perplex to react. For their sake he hoped that the glove´s phaser mode wasn´t switched on killing. He preferred taking captives than making casualties.

"How do you like that? Still not funny?" Powers asked and then said to Meternagel. "Tighten your grip."  
"Guys, we need him… probably." René said and detached Meternagel´s hands from Farnell´s throat who fall, without the support they gave, to the ground  
"Don´t dare kicking him now!" René meant sternly as Power´s swung his feet back.

"Come on…"  
"Enough fun." Meant Dudley sounding not amused. "Time to fulfill our mission."  
"Aww, man." Meant Meternagel disappointed.  
"Quick now."

"Okay okay." Powers cleaned his throat and got into his usually captain stance with his arms folded behind the back. "Meternagel, on the pilot seat. Dudley, weapons and René, you are the closest thing to a scientist so take the advisor´s seat."

All of them, even Dudley, nodded and jumped onto the seats. Powers meanwhile sat down onto the captain´s seat and started pushing buttons on the holo panel in front of him.  
"Calling Leviathan. Leviathan, coming." Said Powers and his voice was full of satisfaction about the perfect working plan.

"Greetings from the Leviathan." I said in reply.  
"Good to hear your voice Isaac." Laughed Powers. "It worked fantastically."  
"Good, but remember that you just have a small timeframe to reach the event horizon." I explained.

"How long?"  
"180 seconds."  
"That´s not much." Powers said. "Meternagel, set a course. Maximum speed."  
"Aye aye." Meant the pilot.

"Okay, rendevouz with the Leviathan in 150 seconds." Powers meant.  
"We´ll be there." I said. "Good luck and over."  
"Over Isaac." Powers pushed a button on the holo panel and turned to Dudley. "You heard him. Not even 3 minutes before we lose control of this ship again. Use the internal security system to clear the way to the escape pods. Force fields, internal artillery, just take care that we have a clear path."

"On it…" Dudley said while he eagerly pushed buttons on his holo panel.  
"Whoa!" René meant and looked surprised at one of the man on the ground who had moved a little. "Dudley, did you just stunned them."  
"Yes." The dog said concentrated. "If the ship gets ever recovered from the singularity, they can be rescued."

"Well, that won´t happen in the near future." Powers said. "And that´s good. A superweapon less against us is something that lets me sleep a bit calmer at night."  
"Amen." Nodded Meternagel approvingly.

"Okay, hallway clear." Dudley meant and stood up. "Time to go."  
"Great timing, grab their gloves and then let´s go." Powers jumped out of his seat and grabbed the glove of one of the unconsciousness bridge crew members.

"Hit it!" Meternagel yelled as he had a glove and left the room running and screaming his own name.  
"Well… not the worst idea actually." René meant and ran after him.  
"Dogs first." Powers meant.

"Okay, but stay close, I need to talk to you." Dudley meant and started running so fast that Powers could keep up with him.  
"To what do I own this honor?" Powers asked.  
"Why did you hide from me that my homeworld could exist?"

"How do you…" Powers wanted to ask but he just sighed and said. "Who cares… anyway, I hid this from you so that you wouldn´t have false hopes in case Isaac´s calculations lead to nothing."  
"So you thought it was smart to lie to me again?"

"First, it´s technically not a lie and second, please, Dudley, I really wish you could forgive me…"  
"No I…"  
"Oh come on!" Powers rolled his eyes angrily. "I am sorry okay! I promise you to hide nothing from you from now on."

"I…"  
"Dudley, please, I had feuds with enemies that didn´t last as long as the one I have with you."  
"I..."  
"Dudley, what do you want more?!"

"Could you let me finish my sentence?!" Dudley asked irritatedly before he sighed and said. "I thought about burying the hatchet for a while. For about 100 years actually. After all you I have to say, If I were in your position, I probably hadn´t said anything too."

"So is this finally the end of the feud?" Powers smiled expectantly.  
"For the start I´ll stop being a dick to you when you´re around… how does that sound?"  
"Good." The captain smiled and pointed towards the end of the hallway. "Meternagel and René have already readied an escape pod for us."

"I love well planned missions…" laughed Dudley as he jumped into the small pill shaped escape pod that was coupled with the ship through a hemispherical shaped hatch. Powers got in behind him and they closed the hatch. "Ready to go."

"Hold on tight, boys, that´s going to be a rough ride." Meternagel meant and decoupled the pod which made it shake violently.  
Dudley was thrown through the little ships wall but before he could start bouncing like a bouncy ball he grabbed a belt that hung on the wall and wrapped it around him.

"Ladies and gentleman… and Sly, if you look to your left you can see how our plan succeeds."  
All eyes turned to the left where the opaque metal of the hull slowly got transparent and they could see how the gigantic ship was devoured with relish by an even more gigantic black hole.

"Oh I definitely don´t want to swap places with the crew now." René said and turned his face away.  
"I did this once… wouldn´t recommend, wouldn´t do again." Said Dudley before he also looked away.  
"Meternagel, how far away are we from the rendevouz?"

"Just look." Grinned Meternagel as suddenly the hull of a ship shoved itself in front of them from above. A big hatch opened and the pod flew into the loading bay.  
A few more seconds passed from the landing, over the pressure compensation to the point they all left the pod and were greeted by me and the tick who couldn´t resist being her and grin.

"Welcome back." I smiled widely and saluted to them.  
"Good to be back." Dudley said and got of the pod first.  
"Seems like everything worked fine, thanks to my intel." Giggled the tick mischievously.

"I have to admit." Powers smiled as he squeezed himself out of the pod. "It would have went so smooth without you."  
"Oh… what honor." The tick giggled and Dudley could swear he saw a blush on her face for a second.  
"Home sweeeeee…" Meternagel, who was just coming out of the pod, was rushed off his feet by the ground that shook heavily.

"What´s that?!" Dudley yelled.  
"No clue!" I yelled back.  
"Quick, to the bridge!" Powers screamed at all of them. Like the devil himself followed them the little group rushed to the bridge.

"Captain!" Alex Casey shouted to Powers as soon as he was on the bridge. "The tractor beam of the enemy ship has captured us."  
"What?!" Powers seemed perplexed as he jumped on his seat. Dudley ran next to him a small seat next to Powers' seat came out of the ground.

"Oh no oh no!" Meternagel screamed as he saw the panels in front of his seat. "They dragging us into the whole!"  
"Seriously?!" Asked Powers  
"I just played with some numbers." I yelled in. "They can drag us long enough to make us cross the event horizon!"

"Oh hell no!" screamed Dudley. "I don´t want to do this again… I don´t want to go through this again!"  
"There has to be a way out of this!" Powers meant. "Calm down and think!"  
"Can´t we destroy their tractor beam?" I asked.

"No chance, we won´t come through their shields in time." Casey shrieked back.  
"Calm down are you kidding?!" Screamed René and to a railing on the wall.  
Dudley tried to breath. He knew what would come next and he didn´t like that at all. The pains and then the darkness. Every fiber in him wanted him to run but there was no way out.

He needed an idea. An idea for a situation he couldn´t handle the last time he was in. How could he possibly win this time? _'Dammit Dudley!'_ He thought to himself. _'Concentrate, Powers is right, there must be a way out!'_

"Isaac!" He suddenly screamed as the solution it struck him like a lightning. "What´s with your black whole gate theory?! Is it possible to travel through holes?"  
"You are kidding right?!" I screamed back. "I am not even done with creating a mathematical model for simulation purpose!"

"Just say what we had to do to!"  
"Dammit, okay! Shields to maximum and flood the deflectors with highly energized tachyons!" I meant. "But if we die, do not blame me!"  
"Oh hell we will." Meternagel yelled.

"Okay, make it so." Powers said with loud and calm voice. "René, go down to the engine room. Isaac, go help him and Meliha down there. Dudley, arm his station."  
I jumped out of my seat and ran to the door together with René while Dudley took a seat on my chair.

He tapped on the holo panel and then said. "1 minute until we reach the event horizon."  
"Okay, get ready guys, I´ll align the Leviathan to the singularity." Meternagel said and slowly moved the joystick attached to his armchair.

"You know that´s totally unnecessary." Powers mumbled while typing things hectically.  
"I know, I just want to face my death." The pilot meant stoically.  
"Makes sense." Nodded Powers.

"Guys, we just arrived at the engine room!" My voice echoed from the bridges ceiling. "I am starting the tachyon infusion… See you on the other side."  
"Noted. Good luck." Powers said.

"15 seconds." Dudley said and turned his head to the big screen over Meternagel that showed what was directly in front of the ship. The singularity was dangerously close and Dudley would have traded almost anything not to fly into this again and as he gazed into the faces of his crew members he saw that they felt the same.

The ship´s nose touched the singularity and an unsettling vibration traveled through the ship. It wasn´t very intensive. Of course it would have spilled a cup of tea on a table but it was far away from letting the crew bounce around in the ship.

"I don´t like that…" Dudley whispered to himself.  
The vibration slowly wore off and left a sinister, almost touchable, silence. A silence Dudley heard too often already. He knew something could happen any second. And with that in mind he tightened up his seatbelt. Dudley took a deep a breath and kept the air inside of him for a bit. After all it could be his last breath, he wanted to extend it as much as possible.

As he was already half way done exhaling the air as his worst premonitions became truth. Choir of warning lights began to cry their gruesome song and bathed the bridge in menacing red. Dudley tried to figure out what´s wrong but the sheer number of warnings in front him was immense that it was hard to decide which he should read first.

"Status report!" yelled Powers but the answers of the bridge crew were drowned by several deafening explosions from the back of the ship. Again the ship started vibrating but this time violently enough to toss a person around. Dudley clang onto his seat and hoped that this time the holo emitter in front of him wouldn´t explode.

But, and that was really weird for Dudley, the vibration faded again. Dudley looked to the big screen. The black whole wasn´t visible anymore, just the usual stars that were spread over the dark canvas of space.

"S..Status…?" Panted Powers nervously, what was even weirder than the end of the vibration.  
"I don´t have the slightest clue where we are…" Said Meternagel and looked perplex at his instruments. "Uncharted space…"  
"Then scan the surrounding…"  
"On it but, uhm, captain?" Meternagel turned around with his chair and looked at Powers.

"Yes, John?"  
"Quick question, why do we always almost die on our missions? I mean… it´s getting alarming how often that happens,"  
"Destiny I guess." Shrugged Powers and he had a slight smile on his face again.  
"Or we are just too stupid to find other solutions." Shrugged Meternagel back grinning and typed more.

"Both would make sense." Meant Dudley and leaned exhaustedly back in his seat.  
"Captain, bad news." Casey meant with a more formal but still tensed tone. "Our shields are destroyed and if I see that right, so is our weaponry."  
"Okay, Dudley, do you have anything for me?"

"Not much…" Dudley said and started reading what the hologram showed him. "Just..."  
"What is it?"  
"Strange signals… I better send them to Isaac."

"Good idea. Do it." Said Powers and stood up from his armchair. He walked thoughtfully towards the big screen and looked at the stars outside of the ship. "It looks somehow different and though so… familiar, doesn´t it?"

"Well… just stars… maybe from another universe but nevertheless just stars." Dudley said unimpressedly.  
"Dudley are you aware that we could be in your universe?" Powers said surprised by his coldness.  
"I´m not trying to think about that." He explained.  
"Too much for you, huh?" Powers spun around and walked back to his seat

Dudley just nodded in reply and tried not to think about the planet he left over 600 years ago. Definitely everything had already forgotten him there and the thought about talking with his descendants not just only felt like someone stabbing his chest, no it also felt like someone was twisting the knife. Also, he wanted to avoid another breakdown like in the cell.

"I understand." Nodded Powers. "Meternagel, news?"  
"Well, most of the scanners are fubar, but what I can say with a probability of 100 percent." He stood up and pointed at the big screen over him. "These glowing dots are definitely stars."

"God…" Sighed Powers and buried his face in his hands. "I hate you."  
Meternagel laughed loudly and then sat down again. As he had turned back to his instruments the doors to the bridge opened.

"Did you see that!" I said excited as I stormed onto the bridge. "It worked! We are alive!"  
"You don´t say." Mocked Casey whose tension also started to yield too.  
"Isaac! Status." Said the captain sternly.

"The core is down" I said like it was the best thing that could have happened. "We had to extinguish it."  
"Great." Powers sighed and sank down into his seat.  
"But that is not important." I meant enthusiastically and walked to Dudley. I typed some orders into the holo panel in front of him and then pointed at the big screen. "A new universe!"

"Yeah, we already know." Said Dudley.  
"Let me finish." I meant harshly and typed more orders in his panel. "The data that Dudley sent me were SETI-Scanner data, and you can clearly…"

"Wait, we have a SETI? Aren´t these things totally obsolete since…" Casey stopped in midsentence and sighed. "As obsolete as this ship. Continue."  
"Okay… again." I meant gritting my teeth. "The SETI-Scanner clearly says that there is something approximately 1 lightyear away from here."

"Something?" Powers asked.  
"Yeah." I said and smiled widely.  
"That´s not really certain…"  
"Who cares? The SETI never ever found something like that! Let us investigate!"

"And… how should we get there without energy? Our core is down." Powers raised his eyebrow.  
"Rowing." Meternagel said drily.  
"Yeah… Or we use the rests of our antimatter to get there." I suggested eagerly.  
"And then we are there and our antimatter reserves are depleted and out life support system dies and so we." Replied Powers.

"What if…" Dudley stood up and walked to the big screen. "What if we use the antimatter from our torpedoes to power our warp drive to get close to this… something."  
"Actually a good idea but what if we get attacked?" Casey interjected skeptically. "Our weapon systems are down, we just have the torpedoes."

"We would not need much torpedoes for one lightyear, actually." I meant. "Just ten… we would have ten left."  
"Okay. I made a decision." Powers stood up and ended the lively debate with a cutting gesture of his hand. "We´ll investigate this something."

"Yes." I clapped my hands triumphantly.  
"We nevertheless have no other choice. But it won´t be like you expect." Powers tilted his back and said to the ceiling. "Meliha?"

"I swear if Isaac dares to come down here ag… Captain?" Meliha asked caught.  
Powers smiled. "I promise not to send him down again but just if you do me a favor."  
"Everything." She said rapidly.

"Take a team of engineers and go to the loading bay. Use a torpedo to fuel the shuttle."  
"Wait, what?" I asked confusedly.  
"As I said, we´ll investigate. But not with the Leviathan." Powers stood up and walked into the middle of the bridge between all the seats. "You, Dudley, Meternagel, one of our engineers and I will take the shuttle, fly to the planet and search for help there. In the meantime you have the bridge Casey. Try to repair the ship as good as possible."

"Aye aye, captain." Casey saluted and ran to captain´s seat and flopped down on it like this was her seat.  
"Great." Laughed the captain.  
"Hey, Sly, can I make a suggestion for the engineer?" Asked Dudley while standing up.  
"Got it, René is in." Powers nodded. "Okay everyone…"

"Whoa, wait a minute, you won´t go without me." Said the tick and built up in front of Powers.  
"And why should I took…"  
Powers was cut short by the tick´s finger which she pressed onto his lips. "Shh… you know exactly why. See you at the loading bay." She spun on her heels and left the bridge.

"Okay… as it seems we are six." Powers meant surprised and shook his head while everyone exchanged confused glances. "Anyway, let´s roll."  
Powers, Meternagel, Dudley and I left the bridge and walked towards to the loading bay.

The time had come for mankind´s first contact to a new species. Dudley walked down the hallways slowly. For the first time ever he hoped that this wasn´t his homeworld. For the first time he hoped not to see his earth´s surface. Because he knew that it would just confirm all his losses. And he didn´t know if he could stand that.

**-Okay guys, that was Episode 3. Hope you liked it and I hope you are as excited as I am about the next Episode. I think the name of Episode for will be clue enough to know what it will be about. The name of episode 4: "Return". Until then, have a great time :D -  
-By the way, SETI: Search for ****Extraterrestrial Intelligence-  
**


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